Coca-Cola Happiness Machine

The Challenge

A Coca-Cola dispensing machine that will get you more than you paid for? Definition 6 needed an Atlanta video production facility that could provide hidden cameras for their client, World of Coke! The fun campaign labeled, "The Coke Happiness Machine" had already been done in other parts of the world, but why not bring it home to Atlanta right smack dab in the middle of the World of Coke? The challenge was to hide cameras in a very large, open plaza to record the reactions of people as they put money into a vending machine, but received instead cupcakes, bicycles, picnic baskets and flowers. Trying to get all of these spontaneous and hilarious reactions and then quietly explain while getting releases signed was quite a challenge.

The Solution

Ground Floor Video met the challenge head on and placed cameras in bushes, trees, the machine itself and even in the backpack of the director who became part of the excited crowds. Twelve video production assistants posed as random tourists who whipped out their hidden releases to explain to surprised customers that they had been recorded. Three producers used cell phones to communicate approaching targets. For three days, the Ground Floor Video crew was able surprise unsuspecting Coke drinkers making the video a huge hit.